A method of fabricating a seal between a ceramic and an alloy comprising the steps of prefiring the alloy in an atmosphere with a very low partial pressure of oxygen, firing the assembled alloy and ceramic in air, and gradually cooling the fired assembly to avoid the formation of thermal stress in the ceramic. The method forms a bond between the alloy and the ceramic capable of withstanding the environment of a pressurized water reactor and suitable for use in an electrical conductivity sensitive liquid level transducer.

The explanation of SN Type I by radioactive decay of /sup 56/Ni requires a relatively small value of the transparency function M/sub ej//v/sub 9//sup 2/ = 0.22 in units of M/sub solar/'s and 10/sup 9/ cm s/sup -1/ to explain the light curve. A minimum mass of /sup 56/Ni is required to explain the peak and near peak luminosity. Subsequent radioactive decay energy must escape in some other form than optical light in order to explain the rapid early and late time decay. Early ultraviolet and infrared radiation are excluded as sinks of energy by observations. PdV work is excluded by theory. The energy loss due to the escape of gamma rays and ..beta../sup +/'s with the above value of M/sub ej//v/sub 9//sup 2/ gives good agreement with the light curve after maximum, provided essentially all the trapped energy is converted to optical light. The peak of SN 1972e is explained with the above transparency value M/sub ej//v/sub 9//sup 2/ = 0.22 and mass of /sup 56/Ni of 0.25 M/sub solar/ or 0.4 M/sub solar/, and a distance of 3.2 Mpc or 4 Mpc, respectively. These values depend critically upon the prediscovery report of Austin (1972), and the assumption again …

Solid friction is considered by some to be a fundamental property of two contacting materials, while others consider it to be a property of the larger tribosystem in which the materials are contained. A set of sliding friction experiments were designed to investigate the hypothesis that the unlubricated sliding friction between two materials is indeed a tribosystems-related property and that the relative influence of the materials properties or those of the machine on friction varies from one situation to another. Three tribometers were used: a friction microprobe (FMP), a typical laboratory-scale reciprocating pin-on-flat device, and a heavy-duty commercial wear tester. The slider material was stainless steel (AISI 440C) and the flat specimen material was an ordered alloy of Ni{sub 3}Al (IC-50). Sphere-on-flat geometry was used at ambient conditions and at normal forces ranging from 0.01 N to 100 N and average sliding velocities of 0.01 to 100.0 mm/s. The nominal, steady-state sliding friction coefficient tended to decrease with increases in normal force for each of the three tribometers, and the steady state value of sliding friction tended to increase as the mass of the machine increased. The variation of the friction force during sliding was also a characteristic of the …

An investigation was conducted to determine which tubes of the 1A loop heat exchanger are leaking. Air pressure and probing tests are inconclusive and cannot be used to verify chemical sampling. (J.R.D.)

Collisions in which a fast highly charged ion passes within the orbit of K electron of a target gas atom are selected by emission of a K x-ray from the projectile or target. Measurement of the projectile charge state after the collision, in coincidence with the K x-ray, allows measurement of the charge-transfer probability during these close collisions. When the projectile velocity is approximately the same as that of target electrons, a large number of electrons can be transferred to the projectile in a single collision. The electron-capture probability is found to be a linear function of the number of vacancies in the projectile L shell for 47-MeV calcium ions in an Ar target. 18 refs., 9 figs.

The purpose of this analysis was the calculation of stresses in the LOFT Containment Vessel at the point of nozzle penetration produced by loads on the nozzles and to show that those stresses are within the 1965 ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code allowables. The stress determination was done by the method developed by P. P. Bijlaard on the worst load case for each diameter nozzle. The operating basis earthquake (OBE) at nozzle 11D produced the most severe load case. All load cases resulted in containment vessel stresses that were less than the allowables as stated in N-414 of the 1965 ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code.

We construct the microstates of near-extremal black holes in AdS_5 x S5 as gases of defects distributed in heavy BPS operators in the dual SU(N) Yang-Mills theory. These defects describe open strings on spherical D3-branes in the S5, and we show that they dominate the entropy by directly enumerating them and comparing the results with a partition sum calculation. We display new decoupling limits in which the field theory of the lightest open strings on the D-branes becomes dual to a near-horizon region of the black hole geometry. In the single-charge black hole we find evidence for an infrared duality between SU(N) Yang-Mills theories that exchanges the rank of the gauge group with an R-charge. In the two-charge case (where pairs of branes intersect on a line), the decoupled geometry includes an AdS_3 factor with a two-dimensional CFT dual. The degeneracy in this CFT accounts for the black hole entropy. In the three-charge case (where triples of branes intersect at a point), the decoupled geometry contains an AdS_2 factor. Below a certain critical mass, the two-charge system displays solutions with naked timelike singularities even though they do not violate a BPS bound. We suggest a string theoretic resolution of these …

Bacteria of the genus Deinococcus are extremely resistant to ionizing radiation (IR), ultraviolet light (UV) and desiccation. The mesophile Deinococcus radiodurans was the first member of this group whose genome was completely sequenced. Analysis of the genome sequence of D. radiodurans, however, failed to identify unique DNA repair systems. To further delineate the genes underlying the resistance phenotypes, we report the whole-genome sequence of a second Deinococcus species, the thermophile Deinococcus geothermalis, which at itsoptimal growth temperature is as resistant to IR, UV and desiccation as D. radiodurans, and a comparative analysis of the two Deinococcus genomes. Many D. radiodurans genes previously implicated in resistance, but for which no sensitive phenotype was observed upon disruption, are absent in D. geothermalis. In contrast, most D. radiodurans genes whose mutants displayed a radiation-sensitive phenotype in D. radiodurans are conserved in D. geothermalis. Supporting the existence of a Deinococcus radiation response regulon, a common palindromic DNA motif was identified in a conserved set of genes associated with resistance, and a dedicated transcriptional regulator was predicted. We present the case that these two species evolved essentially the same diverse set of gene families, and that the extreme stress-resistance phenotypes of the Deinococcus lineage emerged …

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The mission of the pmodel center project is to develop software technology to support scalable parallel programming models for terascale systems. The goal of the specific UD subproject is in the context developing an efficient and robust methodology and tools for HPC programming. More specifically, the focus is on developing new programming models which facilitate programmers in porting their application onto parallel high performance computing systems. During the course of the research in the past 5 years, the landscape of microprocessor chip architecture has witnessed a fundamental change – the emergence of multi-core/many-core chip architecture appear to become the mainstream technology and will have a major impact to for future generation parallel machines. The programming model for shared-address space machines is becoming critical to such multi-core architectures. Our research highlight is the in-depth study of proposed fine-grain parallelism/multithreading support on such future generation multi-core architectures. Our research has demonstrated the significant impact such fine-grain multithreading model can have on the productivity of parallel programming models and their efficient implementation.

Ground penetrating radar surveys of the TX and TY tank farms were performed to identify existing infrastructure in the near surface environment. These surveys were designed to provide background information supporting Surface-to-Surface and Well-to-Well resistivity surveys of Waste Management Area TX-TY. The objective of the preliminary investigation was to collect background characterization information with GPR to understand the spatial distribution of metallic objects that could potentially interfere with the results from high resolution resistivity{trademark} surveys. The results of the background characterization confirm the existence of documented infrastructure, as well as highlight locations of possible additional undocumented subsurface metallic objects.

Aqueous solutions (mixed waste) generated from various LLNL operations, such as debris washing, sample preparation and analysis, and equipment maintenance and cleanout, were combined for storage in the B695 tank farm. Prior to combination the individual waste streams had different codes depending on the particular generating process and waste characteristics. The largest streams were CWC 132, 791, 134, 792. Several smaller waste streams were also included. This combined waste stream was treated at LLNL's waste treatment facility using a vacuum filtration and cool vapor evaporation process in preparation for discharge to sanitary sewer. Prior to discharge, the treated waste stream was sampled and the results were reviewed by LLNL's water monitoring specialists. The treated solution was discharged following confirmation that it met the discharge criteria. A major source, accounting for 50% for this waste stream, is metal machining, cutting and grinding operations in the engineering machine shops in B321/B131. An additional 7% was from similar operations in B131 and B132S. This waste stream primarily contains metal cuttings from machined parts, machining coolant and water, with small amounts of tramp oil from the machining and grinding equipment. Several waste reduction measures for the B321 machine shop have been taken, including the …

Residual fallout contamination from the nuclear test program in the Marshall Islands is a concern to Marshall Islanders because of the potential health risks associated with exposure to residual fallout contamination in the environment. Scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have been monitoring the amount of fallout radiation delivered to Utrok Atoll residents over the past 4 years. This briefing document gives an outline of our findings from the whole body counting and plutonium bioassay monitoring programs. Additional information can be found on the Marshall Islands web site (http://eed.lnl.gov/mi/). Cesium-137 is an important radioactive isotope produced in nuclear detonations and can be taken up from coral soils into locally grown food crop products that form an important part of the Marshallese diet. The Marshall Islands whole body counting program has clearly demonstrated that the majority of Utrok Atoll residents acquire a very small but measurable quantity of cesium-137 in their bodies (Hamilton et al., 2006; Hamilton et. al., 2007a; 2007b;). During 2006, a typical resident of Utrok Atoll received about 3 mrem of radiation from internally deposited cesium-137 (Hamilton et al., 2007a). The population-average dose contribution from cesium-137 is around 2% of the total radiation dose that people normally …

The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) has completed a series of tests (Phases 1 and 2) to assess the potential use of a Mylar{reg_sign} tear-off system as a primary or secondary protective barrier to minimize acid etching ('frosting'), accidental scratching, and/or radiation damage for shielded cells, glovebox, and/or chemical hood windows. Conceptually, thin, multi-layered sheets of Mylar (referred to throughout this report as the ProTec{trademark} tear-off system) can be directly applied to the shielded cell, glovebox, or hood sash window to serve as a secondary (or primary) barrier. Upon degradation of visual clarity due to accidental scratching, spills/splatters, and/or radiation damage, the outer layer (or sheet) of Mylar could be removed refreshing or restoring the view. Due to the multilayer aspect, the remaining Mylar layers would provide continued protection for the window from potential reoccurrences. Although the concept of using a tear-off system as a protective barrier is conceptually enticing, potential technical issues were identified and addressed as part of this phased study to support implementation of this type of system in the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF). Specific test conditions of interest to the DWPF included the performance of the tear-off system exposed to or under the following conditions: …

The focus of this grant, entitled 'Experimental investigations of magnetic, superconducting, and other phase transitions in novel f-electron materials at ultra-high pressures using designer diamond anvils', is to explore the novel properties of f-electron compounds under pressure, with a particular emphasis on the physics of superconductivity, magnetism, and their interactions. This report is a synopsis of the research that was undertaken from 6/2007-6/2008.

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We compared structure alignments generated by several protein structure comparison programs to determine whether existing methods would satisfactorily align residues at a highly conserved position within an immunogenic loop in ribosome inactivating proteins (RIPs). Using default settings, structure alignments generated by several programs (CE, DaliLite, FATCAT, LGA, MAMMOTH, MATRAS, SHEBA, SSM) failed to align the respective conserved residues, although LGA reported correct residue-residue (R-R) correspondences when the beta-carbon (Cb) position was used as the point of reference in the alignment calculations. Further tests using variable points of reference indicated that points distal from the beta carbon along a vector connecting the alpha and beta carbons yielded rigid structural alignments in which residues known to be highly conserved in RIPs were reported as corresponding residues in structural comparisons between ricin A chain, abrin-A, and other RIPs. Results suggest that approaches to structure alignment employing alternate point representations corresponding to side chain position may yield structure alignments that are more consistent with observed conservation of functional surface residues than do standard alignment programs, which apply uniform criteria for alignment (i.e., alpha carbon (Ca) as point of reference) along the entirety of the peptide chain. We present the results of tests that suggest …

Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) has emerged as a key technology for dramatic short-term reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in particular from large stationary. A key challenge in this arena is the monitoring and verification (M&V) of CO2 plumes in the deep subsurface. Towards that end, we have developed a tool that can simultaneously invert multiple sub-surface data sets to constrain the location, geometry, and saturation of subsurface CO2 plumes. We have focused on a suite of unconventional geophysical approaches that measure changes in electrical properties (electrical resistance tomography, electromagnetic induction tomography) and bulk crustal deformation (til-meters). We had also used constraints of the geology as rendered in a shared earth model (ShEM) and of the injection (e.g., total injected CO{sub 2}). We describe a stochastic inversion method for mapping subsurface regions where CO{sub 2} saturation is changing. The technique combines prior information with measurements of injected CO{sub 2} volume, reservoir deformation and electrical resistivity. Bayesian inference and a Metropolis simulation algorithm form the basis for this approach. The method can (a) jointly reconstruct disparate data types such as surface or subsurface tilt, electrical resistivity, and injected CO{sub 2} volume measurements, (b) provide quantitative measures of the result uncertainty, (c) …

Beamlines have been designed for coherence experiments at the ALS based on brightness preserving spherical grating monochromators. The operation is almost paraxial so that a very simple scheme can deliver the modest spectral resolution required, with just two focusing optics, one of which is the spherical grating.

Rocky Flats is looking for an optimum method for surface treating 304L stainless steel to increase its resistance to tritium permeation. Selected surface treatments were applied to 304L samples. One set of samples was shipped to the Rockwell Corporate Science Center for alternate characterization analysis. Another set was sent to Los Alamos National Laboratory for tritium exposure and ion beam spectrographic analysis. The Science Center performed the following analyses: ellipsometry, contact potential, photoelectron emission, surface energy, surface activation, cathodic polarization, electrochemical impedance, and open-circuit potential. Excellent correlation was found between type of treatment and surface activation and electrochemical impedance. Results of the Science Center tests correlated well with actual tritium permeation measurements made at Los Alamos. 8 refs., 8 figs., 1 tab.

The application of high-power lasers to production of extreme high pressures is discussed. Shock velocities consistent with pressures up to 2 TPa in aluminum have already been measured, and experiments in the 4 TPa range are now planned. We describe the status of our programs to develop new diagnostic techniques and perform experiments to characterize perturbing influences on the shock.

We consider a class of problems, notably double ionization, which require accurate descriptions of correlation in both the initial and final states. Methods are presented for representing correlated wavefunctions on a basis spline lattice, and for calculating bound-continuum transition probabilities. 13 refs.

After transfection and selection with methotrexate, CHO cell lines were established which contained up to 2000 copies of an expression vector for c-myc protein. The vector contained the Drosophila heat shock protein 70 (hsp70) promoter fused with the coding region of the mouse c-myc gene. Incubation of cells for up to 3 hours at 43/sup 0/C resulted in at least a 100-fold induction of recombinant c-myc mRNA. When cells were shifted back to 37/sup 0/C, within 1 to 4 hours, this RNA was translated into protein to yield about 250 ..mu..g per 10/sup 9/ cells. Cells died a few hours later, suggesting that high concentrations of intracellular c-myc are cytotoxic. 47 refs., 5 figs.

This paper discusses: neutrino interactions at LAMPF; parity violation in polarized ep scattering; and superconducting detector development.